Hip-Hop 101

HIP-HOP 101 / Hip-Hop History: Beats, Rhymes and Life*

Some characterize Hip-Hop as solely a musical genre that has its roots in the various boroughs of New York City in the 1970’s. Others consider Hip-Hop as historic storytelling that comes to the United States via the griot from West Africa, through oral histories kept alive in verse, in the cultural practice known as “the dozens” and finally as a form of music. KRS-One an artist and founder of the Temple of Hip-Hop once defined it as “intelligent movement”. He argued that to be “hip” was to be ‘in the know’ or in other words, to possess some sort of hidden knowledge. He said that to “hop” was to move, that it’s a verb and therefore it is movement. He argued that Hip-Hop was therefore at its core, intelligent movement and mindful counterculture. This course is an examination of this movement of counterculture, its place in history and global impact.

Materials: Please purchase the books, album and songs specified below. These will be the materials you will use during this course.

Texts:

The Gospel of Hip-Hop by KRS-One

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (PDF to be provided)

Hip-Hop Family Tree Volume 1 by Ed Piskor

Hip-Hop’s Amnesia From Blues and the Black Women’s Club Movement to Rap and the Hip Hop Movement by Reiland Rabaka

Remix 2: Women

Remix 4: Sexuality

Hip-Hop’s Inheritance by Reiland Rabaka

Its Bigger Than Hip Hop: The Rise Of The Post Hip-Hop Generation by Asante